environment: corporate irresponsibility denialism false equivalence media irresponsibility
by Warren
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Year 2, Month 5, Day 1: Teedledee Dee….
Reports the Duluth News Tribune, a local and well-regarded TV talking head has seen the light. Don Shelby figured out that climate change isn’t an ordinary news story. Speaking at a two-day sustainability fair at the University of Minnesota, he came clean about having promoted false equivalency and stenographic journalism on the subject for years.
Actually, he was pretty forthright. I can’t wait to read the comments.
The TV newsman’s mea culpa about having misreported climate change came after of years of treating the story the same as he would any other, requiring the views of two opposing parties, Shelby told the packed lecture hall of the chemistry building.
But, he said, climate change is not a pro or con issue; it’s a scientific fact. And journalists who work to “balance” a story present an inaccurate picture when they give equal weight to sources promulgating inaccurate facts.
“If I report a story on abuse of children, I don’t go out and interview an abuser on the up-side of child abuse,” he said as an example of how an effort to balance can go too far.
Sent April 23, and published a few days ago:
While it’s terrific news that a respected media personality has recognized the grave consequences of “false equivalence” in the media’s handling of climate change, there still are hundreds of journalists who haven’t come to their senses yet. Some of these reporters are overly credulous; some are overworked or lazy; the worst, however, have chosen to ignore the magnitude of the problem for the most venal of reasons. As Upton Sinclair put it, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.” Rather than giving up a fraction of their mind-boggling profitability to help humanity make the transition to renewable energy sources, the fossil fuel industries find it cheaper to fund denialism in the media, obscuring the facts and fostering a political climate that supports the (highly remunerative) status quo. We need more Don Shelbys, and we need them soon.
Warren Senders
environment: denialists Massachusetts media irresponsibility
by Warren
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Year 2, Month 4, Day 24: I Don’t Know Much About Science, But I Know What I Like
The local MetroWest Newspaper describes the recent study showing that people in Massachusetts are convinced that climate change is happening…but are somewhat unclear on how bad it is or, you know, who dunnit.
And they quote a scientist, an environmentalist, and a tea partier:
“I don’t know what I believe, because I’m not a scientist,” Greater Boston Tea Party head Christen Varley of Holliston said.
Varley, who grows some of her food and recycles, cited an earlier email controversy at a research center and mistakes in some reports. If the government tries to make changes, she said, it should do so with incentives, not regulations and mandates.
Sent April 14:
When Christen Varley, the spokeswoman from the Greater Boston Tea Party, says, “I don’t know what I believe, because I’m not a scientist,” it sounds very much like an endorsement of scientific expertise — always a good stance to take on a question of science! I assume that , if she were a scientist, she’d know what she believed about climate change — because scientists make it their business to know the facts. I’m not a scientist either, but I know enough about science to follow the issue, and I would like to assure Ms. Varley that there is no longer any scientific dispute either on the magnitude of the climate crisis, or the fact that it’s caused by human activity. That many Americans don’t recognize the problem’s urgency or severity is a demonstration of the influence of corporate power on our news media. It’s also a terrible shame.
Warren Senders
environment Politics: Bill Clinton false equivalency media irresponsibility Michael Bloomberg
by Warren
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Year 2, Month 4, Day 23: I Miss Abbie Hoffman.
The New York Observer notes that Bill Clinton and Michael Bloomberg are teaming up to “save the planet.” Bold environmental strategy, or timid capitulation to corporate predators? You decide.
As is often the case, it took me almost as long to find the LTE link as it did to write the letter in the first place. With the exception of the closing sentence this is a standard “false equivalency” screed.
Sent April 13:
Bill Clinton’s analysis of the media coverage of climate change is entirely correct. For decades, America’s news outlets have been the focus of non-stop intimidation from right-wing ideologues claiming “liberal bias” on any story reporting facts they find inconvenient or undesirable. Couple this with a relentless focus on celebrity gossip and a steady shortening of attention span, and you have the recipe for disaster: while the burgeoning climate crisis will affect every soul on this planet in unpredictable and drastic ways, our television, radio and print outlets persistently downplay the severity of the emergency. When scientific debate is a televised competition between talking heads, it’s the loudest sound bite that “wins.” Just when we most need wisdom and insight, our media serves us false equivalency and shouting matches. While the world gets hotter and hotter, they’re yelling “theater!” in a crowded fire.
Warren Senders
environment Politics: denialism media irresponsibility scientific consensus
by Warren
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Year 2, Month 3, Day 18: I Know Nuzzink!
The Newberg Graphic (Newberg, OR) runs an op-ed from a guy named Brian Doyle, who speaks considerable sooth on climate issues:
While the political winds blow hot and cold, the climate and the weather it drives are oblivious to politics. Political pronouncements aren’t going to affect the climate any more than they can affect the weather, the tides or sunrise in the morning.
Politicians should be deciding what, if anything, to do about climate change rather than debating or denying scientific facts. Nonetheless, some politicians, their appointees and various talk show hosts have presumed to know more about the earth’s climate than scientists with a lifetime of experience and study. It’s as though controlling the climate was the same as swinging the next election.
It’s one thing to spin or misrepresent a political issue and another thing to alter or ignore physical reality. While political victories are temporary (via death or the ballot box) climate change is permanent and the consequences of misrepresenting it are far more serious than an election’s results or next year’s profits.
So I generated the following. The Semmelweis reference is a new twist. With a little luck, I’ll be able to make it tighter and pithier in subsequent iterations.
Sent March 9:
Assuming that our species makes it through the imminent evolutionary bottleneck posed by runaway climate change, future generations will look back at this moment in history with utter incredulity. How is it possible that our media and our politics — the very systems responsible for informing us about problems and addressing them in a timely and cognizant way — have abdicated their responsibilities so completely? The politicization of every aspect of our national discourse has expanded to include scientific fact, as if physical laws could somehow be negated by the right combination of sound bites and photo-ops. In 1847, when Ignaz Semmelweis discovered that handwashing drastically reduced mortality rates in hospitals, other doctors disregarded him, refusing to believe they’d carried infections from freshly-dissected cadavers to living patients. And hundreds of people died needlessly. When it comes to climate change, today’s Republican politicians and media figures are the philosophical heirs to Semmelweis’ colleagues; easily offended, mentally inflexible, always ready to sacrifice the lives of others rather than admit error.
Warren Senders
environment: extreme weather media irresponsibility scientific consensus
by Warren
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Year 2, Month 3, Day 11: Never Bet Against The House; The House Always Wins
The Bangkok Post runs a story detailing some of the unambiguous links between global warming and our crazy weather. Newspapers in Asia are overwhelmingly more likely to just print the actual facts without a lot of he-said/she-said false equivalence to muddy up the argument.
*
Climate change is not only making the planet warmer, it is also making snowstorms stronger and more frequent, US scientists said on Tuesday.
“Heavy snowstorms are not inconsistent with a warming planet,” said scientist Jeff Masters, as part of a conference call with reporters and colleagues convened by the Union of Concern Scientists.
“In fact, as the Earth gets warmer and more moisture gets absorbed into the atmosphere, we are steadily loading the dice in favor of more extreme storms in all seasons, capable of causing greater impacts on society.”
Steadily loading the dice. Yup. And we are a species of inveterate and thoughtless gamblers. Hoo boy.
Sent March 3:
The scientific evidence linking global warming to the world’s increasingly unpredictable and extreme weather is accumulating almost as fast as the record-breaking snowfalls that brought large parts of the United States to a standstill over the past six weeks. But it is increasingly clear that there are some whom mountains of incontrovertible evidence cannot convince. With the world’s richest and most powerful corporations in positions of influence in print and broadcast media, a huge array of persuasive technologies is used to undermine the scientific truth of global climate change. It is both a tragedy and a crime, for the sooner the citizens and leaders of all nations are able to take meaningful steps both to slow global warming and to mitigate its effects, the more likely we (all six billion of us) are to survive. In their thirst for short-term profits, these corporate giants may ultimately doom themselves as well.
Warren Senders
environment: denialists media irresponsibility scientific consensus
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Year 2, Month 3, Day 7: Is Dis A System?
The Oakland Daily Tribune (that’s Oakland, Michigan, not Oakland, California) runs an article heavily featuring climate denialist Christopher Kobus, who makes a statement that is so wacko I cannot believe he believes it:
He believes the debate boils down to funding.
“(Advocates of global warming) are well-funded and have deep connections with the media,” he said.
“So-called skeptics (of global warming) are neither well-funded nor organized via advocacy organizations. It is a one-way debate.”
A little research on Kobus suggests that he was taken in by the “Climategate” non-scandal and has continued to base his belief system on this series of unfortunate events.
Sent February 27:
Professor Chris Kobus’ claim that climate change “skeptics” are poorly funded does not stand even a cursory examination. The few climatologists who dismiss the overwhelming scientific consensus on Earth’s climatic transformation are almost without exception supported by petroleum-funded “think tanks” and “institutes.” Conversely, many climate scientists face extraordinary obstacles, including smear campaigns, hate mail, death threats and legal harassment in addition to the ongoing struggles for funding that are part of every scientist’s daily work. Professor Kobus states that “climate-change advocates” have “deep connections with the media.” Which media? Surely not our TV, radio or newspapers, which inevitably “balance” every genuinely alarmed expert with an oil-industry spokesman. Meanwhile, there’s snow in California, golfball-sized hailstones in the Midwest, and freak rainstorms in Australia — an increase in freak weather events which climatologists have predicted for decades as a consequence of the greenhouse effect. Denying a problem won’t make it go away.
Warren Senders
environment: Ban ki-Moon corporate irresponsibility false equivalence Hollywood media irresponsibility
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Year 2, Month 3, Day 6: Ban Ki Goes To Hollywood
I just finished reading Will Bunch’s “Tear Down This Myth,” and I was already thinking about the disaster that Reagan’s Hollywood presidency was for the country. Then I read this article in the LA Times, about Ban Ki-moon’s heavy lobbying of Hollywood bigwigs on climate change, and was struck by a line midway through.
This is a site-specific version of the generic media irresponsibility/false equivalence letter. Enjoy.
Mailed February 26:
The key sentence in your description of Ban Ki-Moon’s plea to Hollywood figures for support in combating climate change is director David Carson’s remark, “You don’t want to offend your sponsors.” That is to say, television is fed by big oil, and people who work in TV shy away from biting the hand that feeds them. Ban Ki-Moon’s initiative may yield tangible results; one can only hope that America’s entertainment media will contribute constructively to our species’ ongoing struggle with the greenhouse effect, since the nation’s news media have virtually without exception abdicated their responsibilities in this arena. Yes, we need movies and TV to get people thinking about global warming, just as we need good, accurate news on the subject. But as long as those who provide entertainment and/or facts cannot depict climate change as both scientific fact and imminent threat without offending their sponsors, it’s unlikely.
Warren Senders
environment Politics: false equivalency media irresponsibility scientific consensus
by Warren
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Year 2, Month 3, Day 1: We Need More Like This
The Aurora Sentinel (Aurora, CO) addresses the problem directly, in a very well-done and strongly-worded editorial.
How much more proof is needed to persuade skeptics that humans are warming the planet to dangerously high temperatures?
Scientists released not one, but two reports on Wednesday showing definitively that human-caused temperature hikes in Earth’s atmosphere are producing increasingly harsh, wet storms across the globe.
The studies should counter arguments by skeptics that climate change is a “victimless crime,” said Myles Allen of the University of Oxford, one of two authors of a study associating flooding and climate change in Britain. “Extreme weather is what actually hurts people.”
Can’t wait to see the comments in a couple of days…
Sent 2/21:
Your editorial hits the nail squarely on the head. The current inability of our major media outlets to address global warming without false equivalency would be hilarious if it were not tragic. By equating the expertise of thousands of climatologists with a few paid shills from the oil companies, the true nature of the climate crisis is disguised, and millions of people are lulled into a false sense of security. Add to that the constant stream of virulent anti-environment rhetoric from right-wing talk radio and you have a recipe for disaster — since we can’t deal with the problem without recognizing its existence. Not only is America the planet’s largest per capita emitter of greenhouse gases, its media pollute the public discourse with some of the most egregious and irresponsible mendacity the world has ever seen. And don’t even get me started on Republican politicians, who are appallingly ready to sacrifice the long-term future of their constituents on the altar of short-term political exigencies of the most cynical and willfully ignorant sort.
Warren Senders
environment Politics: Al Gore assholes Bill O'Reilly denialists false equivalency idiots media irresponsibility
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Year 2, Month 2, Day 10: Just Stop It. Stop It. Right Now.
Under a snarky and dismissive headline (“Al Gore’s Snow Job”), Lorrie Goldstein of the Toronto Sun talks about Al Gore’s futile attempt to educate Bill “the tide goes in, the tide goes out” O’Reilly and his audience about how global warming is linked to all this f***ing snow. As snarky and dismissive pieces go, it’s not that bad, pointing out that all Gore’s claims are correct and all of O’Reilly’s statements are stupid…but it nevertheless treats the 2000 popular vote winner as a vaguely comic figure. Our media is so, so, so, so damned lazy.
Sent on February 3:
Lorrie Goldstein notes that Al Gore’s name now triggers reflexive skepticism among people who are anxious to dismiss the very real threat of global climate change as somehow chimerical. But her column inadequately addresses the reasons for this. The former vice-president and Nobel laureate has done his homework; his prescience on the issue of global warming is, or should be, a foregone conclusion by now. Instead, many media outlets dismiss his hard-won expertise, either through a simplistic Bill O’Reilly-style confusion of weather and climate, or through the marginally more sophisticated tactic of false equivalency, in which a statement by a genuinely worried climatologist (or a former VP) is “balanced” by pronunciamenti from petroleum industry mouthpieces. Yes, it’s true that the climate debate has become politically polarized — but environmentalists haven’t been doing the politicizing. That responsibility belongs to the Republican party and its sponsors, Big Oil and Big Coal.
Warren Senders
environment: media irresponsibility snowstorms
by Warren
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Year 2, Month 2, Day 8: Whiteout!
Written and sent to the Chicago Tribune on February 1, as Chicago is getting ready for its own massive snowstorm. Typically, the article is all about municipal preparations, ignoring the webs of causality that link this weather event with all the other crazy stuff that’s coming out of the sky elsewhere in the world.
As Chicago braces for a “once-in-a-decade” snowfall, it is easy and tempting to think of it as an isolated phenomenon. But this blizzard, like the multiple winter storms that are hammering the East coast, is part and parcel of the same complex set of phenomena that gave us the floods that have inundated Pakistan, the cyclone that’s headed for Australia, and the drought that devastated Russia last summer.
If we wish to build a future for our children and their children in turn, we must face the reality of global climate change. While no single weather event can be blamed on the greenhouse effect (science doesn’t work that way), there is no longer any serious doubt among experts: anthropogenic climate change makes extreme weather overwhelmingly more likely. The fact that the phrase “climate change” does not appear at all in this article is an unfortunate abdication of journalistic responsibility.
Warren Senders